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Onboarding staff is one of the most integral stages to the recruitment process. As you know, carrying out comprehensive and effective onboarding ensures that your employees will have the best possible chance of successfully integrating into their new role, team and company. Conversely, poor onboarding may impact turnover, staff morale and training which can prove to be a costly exercise.
So, how do employers onboard effectively during a global pandemic?
Coronavirus has forced businesses around the world to transition to working from home, and many are asking for tips for onboarding best practice. The good news is that, with proper planning and guidance, it can be done well.
Throughout the remote onboarding process, it’s important to remember that new starters may feel an increased level of stress and anxiety. While there will be the usual worries around starting a new job, how they will adapt and perform, they may also be processing fears around job security or their health during the pandemic. With this in mind, regular check-ins and extra learning time are all the more important for them to learn the ropes.
If, like many businesses, you’ve never onboarded a new starter remotely, there are a few things to prepare before you start. First, decide who’ll lead the onboarding process – typically this will either be a member of HR or the line manager. Whoever it is, they’ll need to be available to be quite hands-on throughout the first month as they’ll be busy facilitating regular video calls and training sessions. They should also create a realistic four-week agenda for the new starter to help structure the process.
Next, IT will need to facilitate the software or technology needed (including training platforms, video or messaging technology) and the logistics of shipping laptops, computers and other hardware to the employee.
Finally, notify the wider business that you’ll be onboarding remotely and ask for their cooperation and remote onboarding tips. It’s essential to include as many people as possible to the process as this will help create connections and improve your new starters’ integration within the wider team.
Given the uncertainty of the current market, check in with your new starter before their start date to reassure them everything will go ahead as planned, as this will go a long way to alleviate any concerns.
We spoke to one of our personal assistant candidates, Jordan, who was recently onboarded remotely by a global management consultancy firm in London. Jordan explained that, “there’s so much anxiety coming into a new (virtual) workplace at this sort of time, so when HR called to reassure me everything was going ahead and I would have my hardware and agenda by a certain day, it really helped. They really put themselves in my shoes and answered every question that I thought of but was too afraid to ask.”
Sending a starter pack can also go a long way to making new employees feel excited and welcomed. This could include an agenda for the first month, a staff handbook, any applicable handover notes, HR policies, a personalized welcome letter from the owner/CEO/MD, company values and information on annual leave and benefits. If possible, try and be creative – you could include branded merchandise such as a notebook, pen, mug, USB stick and a small pot plant, for example. If you already have a starter pack in place, adapt it to include step-by-step instructions on using the systems and clear contact information for key members of staff.
Download this remote onboarding checklist to help ensure everything is organized before the start date.
The first day is one of the most important in the remote onboarding process. Start by sending around a company-wide email to introduce the new starter. Next, video call the new starter to run through the agenda for the week. If you’re in the HR team and have set up orientation video calls with the employee’s team and manager, offer to act as a friendly face by sitting in on these initial introductions. These calls should set out the onboarding plan, including training, set expectations and any short- and long-term goals around workload.
Lastly, organize an HR catch up for the first week, which will give them an opportunity to ask about company-specific information like the annual leave policy, benefits, the HR portal and essential contacts for IT and other team members.
For the rest of the first week, organize training sessions with members of their team. If you’ve organized a work buddy, ask them to talk the new starter through company culture and values (including what to expect when everyone returns to the office).
Later in the week, start introducing other managers/key staff in the company to explain what they do and how they’re likely to work with your new recruit. This will help them understand the structure of the company, especially when they can’t see it in-person at the office.
To help foster a sense of camaraderie, set up 20-minute social calls with members of the team to learn about each other on a personal level. There’s only one rule – they can’t talk about work!
Finally, organize a debrief at the end of the first week. Go over the agenda to ensure everything has been completed and the new starter is happy with their progress.
Jordan found the main challenge of the first week to be “information overload”, as new employees are left to their “own devices to try and make sense of [new information]”. As such, the person responsible for onboarding should make themselves as available as possible to the new starter so they don’t feel overwhelmed.
It’s a good idea to break up video meetings with training sessions and social calls to prevent them from feeling inundated with information. There’s the possibility the onboarding process will take more time than it would normally in the office, so feel free to space out training sessions as necessary.
Download this sample calendar as a remote onboarding plan template for the first four weeks of a new starter’s agenda.
The agenda for onboarding a candidate remotely will be different for every business. However, employers should always keep in mind the following best-practice tips to ensure a successful process.
Above all, ensure the new starter feels supported by the business by having access to HR, their manager or their work buddy at all times. In her new company, Jordan was assigned a buddy who called her regularly over the first two weeks. She said they “talked about things outside of work, like what we’re watching on Netflix. This was so important because you’ve lost the social interaction you’d normally have in an office.”
Put time aside to introduce the new starter to the company’s values and culture, as this is something they may not absorb by themselves at home. You can do this by encouraging socializing with virtual coffee dates and team-building activities. Jordan explained that because “more people have reached out now I’m at home than if we were in the office, I feel a lot happier in my role.” As her company has taken time to include her in social activities like “Friday beers via Zoom and company-wide quizzes to meet people,” she’s been left with a positive impression of the workplace and its culture.
While setting out the agenda before the employee starts is essential, a top remote onboarding tip is to review it on a weekly basis via 1:1 check-ins. Listen to feedback and adapt if necessary. There’s no need to put an excessive amount of pressure on someone starting a new role, as this may foster negative feelings. Jordan reiterates that employers should “think in the shoes of the person who has come on remotely. It’s really, really overwhelming so you need to make time to check in!”
For longer-term performance and training/development goals, aim to review on a monthly and quarterly basis. This will reassure your new starter that you’re invested in their growth within the company.
If you’re looking for an onboarding guide for managers to help you prepare the right tools, below are a few resources that may help.
When conducting regular check-ins, ask the right questions in case you need to adapt the process accordingly. Below are some example questions to ask new starters throughout the onboarding process:
If your company isn’t familiar with virtual training, we’ve compiled a list of tools you can use to onboard the new starter. These include:
Tiger Recruitment is working to bring you content that is both interesting and relevant to the current situation. Read our guide on choosing the right candidate for the job for more guidance.
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